Honors: magna cum laude, Fletcher Scholar, Order of the Coif
Law Review: Wake Forest Law Review, Editor-in-Chief
Moot Court Board: Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition, Team Member

Dixie Wells represents clients in lawsuits involving engineering issues, higher education law, complex commercial transactions, and products liability. Regardless of the substantive law at issue, she focuses her practice in managing mass litigation and handling litigation arising from single events where suits are filed in multiple courts. Ms. Wells applies the same attention to detail as a lawyer that she did as a structural engineer. In addition, she relies on her engineering background when handling cases involving technical issues and when working with experts. Her experience includes representing Fortune 100 companies in commercial litigation, medical products cases, environmental exposure cases, and antitrust class actions, and representing universities in claims involving student-athletes and student affairs.

Ms. Wells obtained her undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Duke University (B.S.E., magna cum laude, 1991) where she was a Benjamin N. Duke Scholar, her master’s degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia (M.S., 1993), and her law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 1999) where she was a Fletcher Scholar. While in law school, Ms. Wells served as Editor-in-Chief of the Wake Forest Law Review, was a member of the Moot Court Board, and was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Before attending law school, Ms. Wells was a research scientist with the Virginia Transportation Research Council from 1993-1996 where her research focused on the maintenance, repair, rehabilitation and replacement of bridges. She obtained her professional engineer license in North Carolina in 1996.

Awards and Honors

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, "Leader in the Field" for Litigation (2017-2018)

Technical Advisory Group on Maintenance, Repair and Rehabilitation Unit Costs for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Pontis Task Force (1993-1994)

Professional Engineer License, North Carolina, inactive

Presentations

S/he’s a Typical Engineer! How to Make the Engineer the Ally of the Lawyer, Webinar for the International Association of Defense Counsel, August 22, 2018

Overview of Opinions of the North Carolina Appellate Courts Decided between September 19, 2017, and May 15, 2018, 2018 NCADA Annual Meeting, Hilton Head Island, SC, June 15, 2018

Overview of Opinions of the North Carolina Appellate Courts Decided between May 19, 2017 and September 15, 2017, Meeting of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys; Greensboro, NC, Sept. 29, 2017

Overview of Decisions of the North Carolina Appellate Courts between June and September 2016, Meeting of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys; Greensboro, NC, Sept. 9, 2016

Overview of Decisions of the North Carolina Appellate Courts between October 2015 and May 2016 , Meeting of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys; Asheville, NC, June 18, 2016

Eight Common Privilege Myths and Missteps in Accident Investigations, Regional Meeting of the International Association of Defense Counsel; Raleigh, NC, June 25, 2015

Overview of Decisions of the North Carolina Appellate Courts between October 2014 and May 2015, Meeting of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys; Hilton Head, SC, June 12, 2015